Linguistics Society of Iran Language and Linguistics 23223847 9 18 2013 11 22 Representation of social actors in foreign policy discourse of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi via Van Leeuwenʹ socio-semantic model Representation of social actors in foreign policy discourse of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi via Van Leeuwenʹ socio-semantic model 39 64 1586 FA Homa Asadi Farhad Sasani Journal Article 2013 12 07 Critical discourse analysis deals mostly with power and ideology. This approach attempts to detect unequal power relations and unravel the ideologies hidden behind  texts. Accordingly, this article takes a critical discourse analysis approach to investigate how social actors are represented in the foreign policy discourse of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The analytical model used is Van Leeuwen′s socio-semantic framework (2008). The main objective of this  paper is to explore how these representations are used to foreground favorite concepts and background least favorite ones. The findings of this study indicated a differential representation of social actors by Shah according to his aims and goals in that "self" identities are depicted as positive and active actors, while "other" identities are depicted negatively. Moreover, the results showed that from among the features suggested by this framework, "association" and "relational identification" are mostly used for referring to "self" identities, while "appraisement" is mostly used for referring to "other" identities. Critical discourse analysis deals mostly with power and ideology. This approach attempts to detect unequal power relations and unravel the ideologies hidden behind  texts. Accordingly, this article takes a critical discourse analysis approach to investigate how social actors are represented in the foreign policy discourse of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The analytical model used is Van Leeuwen′s socio-semantic framework (2008). The main objective of this  paper is to explore how these representations are used to foreground favorite concepts and background least favorite ones. The findings of this study indicated a differential representation of social actors by Shah according to his aims and goals in that "self" identities are depicted as positive and active actors, while "other" identities are depicted negatively. Moreover, the results showed that from among the features suggested by this framework, "association" and "relational identification" are mostly used for referring to "self" identities, while "appraisement" is mostly used for referring to "other" identities. http://lsi-linguistics.ihcs.ac.ir/article_1586_cc9269220fb6af659e891d3fe14e87f0.pdf